will have or would have
We use the perfective will have when we are looking back from a point in time when something will have happened.
By the end of the decade scientists will have discovered a cure for influenza.
I will phone at six o’clock. He will have got home by then.
or looking "back" from the present:
Look at the time. The match will have started.
It’s half past five. Dad will have finished work.
We use would have as the past tense form of will have:
I phoned at six o’clock. I knew he would have got home by then.
It was half past five. Dad would have finished work.
We use would have in past conditionals to talk about something that did not happen:
If it had been a little warmer we would have gone for a swim.
He would have been very angry if he had seen you.
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Hi there
Can you please give me the grammatical structure that shows why this sentence is incorrect:
I did forget it, and would have preferred not to be reminded
I believe it should be
I did forget it and would have preferred not to have been reminded
Am I correct?
Thanks
Hi ,
I am Mohammed, Could you explain where we can use Would be + past participle.
And why we are using it?
Please advice me
team
Hello Mohammed!
That's quite a difficult question to answer! Would be + past participle could be one of three things, depending on how you use it. You should look at our page on will and would to understand the basic use of would first.
It could be would be + an -ed adjective, as in the sentence
I would be interested in seeing that if you didn't mind.
It could also be a passive form, but this is quite unusual.
If we had enough money to build a new building, it would be built next to the old building.
We might also use it in reported speech, to replace
It will be finished by tomorrow.
---> He said it would be finished by tomorrow.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
"you would have text me" or "you would have texted me"...could you please tell me which is the correct one?
team
Hello sayel!
Would have texted me is correct. Would have is followed by the past participle.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,I am from Bulgaria and i would like to ask you something.Do i have to awlays use "would have been or should have been" when i want to make any probabilities for something?
for example : Altering course would have caused violent rolling:
to alter immediately to starboard would result in contact with the bouy:
Could you tell me the differents between both sentence? thank you
hi i m aditya. i m confused about use for 'had to' and 'would have to' as u wrote in your examples.......so please help me........and lot of thanks british council for starting a great initiative to learn english.
team
Hi Aditya,
Could you please give some more details about what is confusing you? If you can ask a specific question, that will make it easier for us to give you a helpful answer.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
HI, I am Nahla &from Egypt its the first time to join to website specially in learning English I hope to learn all what am searching for. my question is about we use would have in an imaginary situations as you told us before in your answer on the comments but i didn't find that in some examples which I read it , there is an example in the website really I don't understand it I need more clarification about it the example is :she thought she would be late so she would have to take the train. all what I understand the she was late and the only available solution for her is to take train just.so, please explain more about it.
sorry for inconvenience.
Thanks a lot for your support.
team
Hello Nahla!
The example you give is actually a bit different. This is would for past (story telling) tense, where we use would instead of will. Think about this sentence:
Normally, I take the bus at 8.00, but I will be late today, so I will have to take the train at 9.00.
This is someone thinking about what is going to happen. Now imagine you are telling someone else, after you get home:
I thought I would be late so I would have to take the train - but actually I caught the bus just in time!
Change I to she, and you have your example. Your example is about what someone thought was going to happen in the past.
Hope that helps!
Regards
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team